Cong attacks Mayawati govt on statue issue

Attacking the Mayawati government for erecting statues in Uttar Pradesh, Congress today said the amount spent for the purpose could have been better utilised to solve housing problem in the state.

Attacking the Mayawati government for erecting statues in Uttar Pradesh, Congress on Wednesday said the amount spent for the purpose could have been better utilised to solve housing problem in the state.

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"The money spent in installing stone statues could have been spent on Indira Awas Yojna, which would have solved housing problem in the state," AICC General Secretary in charge of UP Digvijay Singh said here, while inducting BSP's Kumar Gautam in Congress.

He claimed that Mayawati's "attention is not on the plight of the poor but on constructing elephant statues by misusing funds."

Singh said party general secretary Rahul Gandhi's visits to dalit households has increased the morale of Congress workers. "It has also resulted in an increased trust of Dalits in Congress," he added.

UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, on the occasion, said Gautam's decision to leave BSP indicated that Mayawati has failed to fulfil her promise to uplift the dalits.

"His father Amarnath Gautam was one of the founding members of BSP. If a member of such a distinguished family has distanced himself from BSP, it shows that Dalits are feeling cheated," she added.

Gautam said party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would be invited to a proposed 'dalit rally' to be organised in Allahabad.